Wolf Food

Donna Barr's news of what's going on and what you should know.

Tuesday, March 23, 2004

This was a reply on a board list, to a guy who... would you believe... got into a fight with the editor, and, in an effort to put her down, used the term "feminine mentality." I mean, right there on a board where there's a gang o' females, and we know damn well what he meant what he said it (basically it translates as "hey, you stupid bitch" -- with "bitch" being used as it usually is -- "Female who is getting in the way of my getting my way."). Does he want to work with us? Now or in the future? Good god, we talk to each other -- speech is the superior human quality, and we have it in spades.

I mean, what, is he living in the 1950's? Or just in a hole someplace? Does the guy use the n-word while he's at it? Has he NEVER studied even high-school biology? I'm flabbergasted, how about you? Anyway, here's my reply, in which I attempt to talk through a jaw that I keep having to lift up for the floor:

"Real quick note to the guy on this list who made guys look bad (AGAIN. GEEZE, you guys must be getting tired of guys like this!):

Do NOT be using terms like "feminine mentality," unless you want us CN's to get out the big guns.

Remember -- WE have the big amunition. And what is it? It is your gender's track record, over recorded history. It is a big, nasty skeleton you do NOT want us dragging out of the closet.

Us CN's are the NICE gender. Our track record is pretty damn good. Meet one of us in the wilderness, and we're liable to feed you, rather than kill you. Hell, we'll even SLEEP with you people! One of our great qualities is forgiveness -- we can even, with allowances, forgive your gender's track record. But do not -- do NOT be trying to go up against OUR track record. All YOU have is popguns. WE have nuclear weapons -- and I'm talking fission.

Just work with us, and be totally grateful we even talk to you, much less work with you. Anybody else would be screaming for about 99 life sentences apiece, just to even out the share of history. I mean, there's no other group comes CLOSE to what we've endured from you. And think twice -- or 30 times -- before even beginning to think you have a right to use terms like "feminine mentality" without getting a response. Freedom of speech cuts both way -- and we have bigger and sharper knives.

But other than that, you're very attractive to us, and GOD, you have nice asses...

I think I just said, "You're lucky you're so cute."

So look in the mirror, smile, and be totally happy that you're one of your people that we TALK to. You've made the cut. You've succeeded. Yay for you. Now don't blow it, boy-child.

(If you want to know what CN means, just sit and think about it a bit. It shouldn't be hard to figure out -- or to GET it. Hint: What did John Lennon say?)"

So.... if anybody wants their copy of "New Souls," and hasn't gotten it yet, it's because it's just now shipping. Minor prepress problems, but they held things up a bit. However, the book looks good (thanks, Eric!) and got shipped (thanks, Roberta and the gang at Fantagraphics, who helped out another publisher, namely me). Copies available at Stinz website (link left).

When on the beach this morning, met the guy who sends in the mussels for pcp (red tide) testing. So..... this household is leaving off the shellfish for the spring/summer and turning to the woods. This morning the harvest consisted of nettles and toothwort. Decided to bury the toothwort tubers under the deck, where it's cool and moist, and to just eat the plants. They're members of the mustard family, and taste like spicey turnips. Nettles ended up stewed with spaghetti.

Yesterday, stopped off at the Neah Bay Cemetery. Several interesting totem poles, and a picture board with a very nice rendition of carved and painted Seamonster and Thunder Snake (I think. Don't quote me). And a small wooden killer whale with a moon face carved into the front of the fin, and what looked like feather or fin forms lightly scratched into the fins near the body. Most graves hand-dug, and decorated with devotional objects (angels, flowers, religious statues) and favorite things. Including the guy with the little Crown Royal bottle shoved down into the soil. Spirits for the spirits. Very quiet.

Check out Superminister at the Stinz website (see links, left). A friend is re-registering as a Baptist Minister, so he can perform gay marriages if it comes up.

Sunday, March 21, 2004

Thanks to Eric Schneider for helping me set up my BLog page (Yes, I could have done it myself, but Eric does this stuff like he's breathing, and it frees me up to do more ART! When I'm not out finding scallops on the beach).

So I'm going to list a few things in this first post that have been going on in the past, starting with the latest first:

19 March, 2004

HAIL!

Gorgeous sunshine, headed for the beach, even though the sky over Vancouver
Island was the color of slate. Found an agate. Discussed buying wood with
Richard (Wealth up here is "Whoo whoo! Look -- a full woodshed!") and reassured his girl that the reason I'd used two fresh halibut heads off the beach the other day WASN't because we were starving, but because I wanted to see if I could do it. Talked about making nettle soup, too.

Wind got ugly, and we decided the walk for fresh air was getting just a
little TOO fresh.

Just as I got home, the wind and the hail hit. The ground went white in
about a minute.

Talk about timing.

18 March, 2004

I was excited about the Vagina Monologues letters exchange in the Forks Forum.
They'd far beyond anything any other paper would dare, anywhere else in this state. So..., I've added a few more sparks to the fire. It starts at the quotation marks:

"Some of you didn't like the Vagina Monologues, because the play uses
language you don't like, and shows women the way you don't prefer.

That's your problem. Deal with it.

Enough with demands that women be "ladylike," modest, silent, or curb our vocabularies because we may do or discuss something you fear.

Enough, assuming that women do nothing in this or any other community but serve tea or make quilts. Tea and quilts are fine, but we do and are capable of so much more.

Enough, that violence is printed and read as a joke in the police blotter,
and sold as entertainment and pushed on the evening news -- but sex,
heaven's joyful gift to us all, is hidden and despised and feared.

Enough of telling girls and young women that their sexuality is evil and
dirty, and that they have no control over it. Enough of controlling how
they -- and all women -- think or speak about it or anything else, or when
or where.

ENOUGH.

Donna Barr
Clallam Bay, WA

(Go www.mapquest.com it. We're not on the butt-end of the lower 48 -- but you can see it from here.)

17 March, 2004

Just came back from the Chamber of Commerce meeting here in Clallam Bay.

They're totally psyched about turning the area into a tourist/eco-friendly
area, and loved the idea of all the artists we have. The place is filthy
with artists.

Have found a wholesaler for artists' supplies; going to take the
application over the Rick at Final Destiny (tattoos, art gallery and future
band club, or so he plans) and crunch funding suggestions and we're going to
see if we can't have the mini-art-supply store up and running in time for
Fun Days in July.

There is a feeling of excitement, development of the social structure and
rescue of the rivers and forests up here.

And everybody else is broke, too and don't give a damn -- money means
nothing here. I said I had no real front yard -- and the guy who runs the
Angler's Resort swept his arm across the view of the ridges and beaches and
said, "Whadaya mean? THAT's your front yard!"

Oh, Makah Days cancelled this year -- the road is being fixed -- so you
might want to come to Fun Days in July. And the Kalakala Ferry is in Neah
Bay! You can even get a Kalakala burger ("Lots of rust and it's wrapped in
aluminum foil." No, kidding -- but you can get one.)

The Vagina Monologues, put on in Forks not long ago, has sparked an exchange
of letters the likes of which I've never seen in any other paper in the
state.

Kind of The Victorians Who Don't Like Naughty Words vs. the Women Who Won't Put Up With It Any More.

And I haven't had so much seafood in years. Scallops right off the beach...